Look Alive, Sunshine!
by The Butter Batter
Summary: Five orphaned children run away together to create the best orphanage for rejects such as themselves! But when the leader goes for his last run and picks up a rather attractive Latino, will love bloom between the two? And to make it even worse, a group of hunters found the tree house oprhanage and are trying to make the 50 orphans leave their home! What will the leader do now?
1. Chapter 1

The 5 orphans ran like mad through the thick Floridian forest, desperate to get to their destination before nightfall hit them once again. They had run from Louisiana (near Baton Rouge) to just south of Lake Kissimmee, Florida. It had been nearly a 2 week journey on foot, but sometimes they could hitch rides in the back of semi trucks. They stole food from anywhere whenever they could, mostly bags of chips and candy bars.

Among the 5 young orphans, there were a set of twins, two brothers, and the oldest being an albino 11 year old boy. The 10 year old twins were named Jake and Jade Harley, and the brothers were Equius and Horuss Zahaak. Equius was three years younger than his 9 year old brother, but he acted the most mature out of the whole lot. The albino boy would never tell anyone his true name, because he wanted to have a reputation of a strong and mysterious leader, so he went by the name Turntech.

They all pulled their weight in different ways. Jade and Jake were pro hunters, even though they had been stuck in an orphanage since they were 6. It seemed hunting came naturally to them. So when the group couldn't steal any food, the Harley twins were off with their handmade spears and knives. Equius and Horuss were exceptionally talented at making shelters out of large tree trunks and sometimes stones if it was a stormy night. Turntech was skilled in befriending kids and tricking them into getting supplies and money for him. He used his torso that made him look like he was starving to pierce the hearts of softie girls to get what he needed for his group. With the money, Turntech would buy everyone bottles of water or Gatorade and any snacks that they could afford. Sometimes they'd stop at a fast food place if they were doing exceptionally well.

Their journey lasted from May 28th to June 12th, but once they found the land that had been passed down to Jake and Jade after their grandmother had died, they rejoiced and celebrated for hours. They all camped out in the large and dusty old home that was located in the 100 acres of land. Most of the land was dominated by forest, and a medium sized river ran through the upper half of it. The woods were teeming with wildlife, which could only mean good things foodwise. As the group got accustomed to the forest and learned where everything was, they set in the second huge part of their plan in.

These 5 orphans all ran away for the same reasons. They were all bullied and teased and picked on in their orphanages. Being sick and tired of it like anyone would be, they all ran away together. Jake and Jade had recalled that in their grandmother's will, they were given all of her wealth and land and everything in between. After Turntech was given this information, he stole a map that covered the Southeastern part of America from a gas station and mapped out their trail. And well, you already know that they got there in one piece.

As for the wealth the twins had received, it turned out they couldn't withdraw a single penny until they turned 18, so they were 8 years short. This was a minor setback, but they still had the vast amount of land. Now, Turntech decided it was time to put the second part of their great plan into action.

They all looked for a set of trees that donned sturdy and large branches. They found exactly what they were looking for near the river, which made everyone's lives a lot easier. With the use of the chainsaws and axes found in Grandma Harley's shed, the group cleared out an area of trees. Equius and Horuss's strength of 10 men worked wonders for this part, for it took just one of them to lift an entire tree and move it wherever they were directed to move it. Dave and Jade then started working on the blueprints of their tree house orphanage, where they planned many great things.

You could say that these five young orphans were complete geniuses, and you would be completely right. In about 3 years of nonstop working, through sweltering hot summers and mildly cold winters, through every ache and pain, through hundreds of mosquito bites, they had managed to make a rather grand tree house. They liked to call it the tree home, though. For they felt that they had all finally found their home. Of course Turntech had went out and befriended some wealthy kids. John and Jane Crocker, the grandchildren of the famous Betty Crocker, were some of those kids. John would always sneak him sweet snacks and cakes whenever he could, which was often. John's 13 year old big sister, Jane, would often just annoy Turntech to the point of he went to his house at last resort. Twins Rose and Roxy Lalonde were the other two he went to for things. Rose acted like a doting older sister to Turntech, which he used as a way to get money and seeds for food he needed to be able to grow on his own, since Jade had a knack for such things. Roxy was nice to him, and would give him textbooks from her school for him to borrow and learn. It helped Turntech a lot, but he only took the science and language arts books. None other.

Another thing about Turntech and when he was out with his supply givers, he went by Turner around them. He didn't very well know why he did this, but it stuck. He didn't think going by Turntech around John and Rose was all that great, but he couldn't use his true name. Therefore Turner is what he decided on as his second codename.

As the tree home orphanage thrived with the just five of them, turntech thought it was time for them to recruit some other reject orphans. They started off by going to a large orphanage, it was just Jake and Turntech at this time, and they were surprised to see at least 4 kids there were being tormented by their fellow peers. Turntech was so angry that he decided to take all four instead of just one. He found out their names were Meenah (age 12), Feferi (age 8), Cronus (age 10), and Rufioh (age 13). They were all grateful to run away with Turntech and Jake, because what did they have to lose? Everyone hated them already for being so freakish, who would really miss them in the long run?

That night Turntech and Jake helped the four sneak out as easily as he had snuck in. Turntech was surprised at how large the orphanage was, but was grateful for its size because then the four misfits would have gone unnoticed easier.

It took all night, but Turntech and Jake successfully got the four runaways to their tree house haven. There, they were all given rooms on the boy and girl lofts located opposite from each other. That night, Turntech declared a feast for their first successful assisting of getting orphans.

The next few months rolled on, and the tree home orphanage was booming with people. They were all younger than Turntech, which no one ever complained about. Everyone looked up to him as a leader, and he graciously accepted such a role. As anyone would have expected, Jake, Jade, Equius, and Horuss were right beneath him. Their community thrived wonderfully, they all lived on vegetables and fruit trees that Roxy had supplied for them. Jake and Jade would teach eager orphans how to hunt for small game, such as rabbits and squirrels. Others went out to look for wild blackberries that were native to Florida. Water was supplied by the ever so helpful river that they soon named the Orphan's River.

Nearly a year passed since Turntech and Jake's first run for rejects, and the tree house had grown to 53 orphans, including the five who started it all. He would look off from the highest balcony in the forest and smile down at all their hard work. He was 15 by this time, nearly turning 16. He decided that he would go for one last run, for one boy. The girls were all filled up and the last orphan he got was 3 year old Nepeta Lejion. She slept with Jade until she was accustomed to living here. But the Boys' loft had one last vacant room, and Turntech decided to go on his own to fill it up.

Turntech would go off to the first orphanage he went to to get Rufioh, Meenah, Feferi, and Cronus. The Carcino Genesist Orphanage.


	2. Chapter 2

He sat alone in the back of the rusty old bus, staring out at the deep green wooded land he'd grown to know and hate. His bus was filled to the brim with kids around his age, 14 to 16. No one really talked to him, and when they did it was just to bother him. It seemed as if everyone wanted to his short temper against him and make him blow up easily and often.

The boy we are following was a feisty little 15 year old Latino. Even though he had been at the orphanage most of his life, he still had traces of a Spanish accent when he spoke. He taught himself Spanish so he could cuss out people he despised and he wouldn't get in trouble. His jet black hair looked like it hadn't been combed in days, and was sticking up in some areas. He had piercing brown eyes that seemed to always be angled to where he looked like he was glaring at everything for eternity. He wore a dark red t-shirt that had some band logo on it. A black zip-up hoodie covered most of that cheap donated shirt. The hoodie had no design on it, which pleased the boy. He hated graphics on clothing, really. He wore gray jeans that hugged to his body. His black converse shoes were old and worn, but the boy didn't want to get new ones.

Once the bus got to their location, which happened to be Lake Kissimmee, all the kids were directed to get out and prepare to go swim in the cool lake water. Yet the boy we are following hated showing his burned and scarred body, so he slunk into the forest to get out of water sports. It's not like anyone would notice, everyone hated him at the orphanage anyways.

He swatted at the mosquitos as he traveled deeper and deeper in the forest, looking for a tree suitable for climbing. It took him awhile, but he finally found one and he made his way to the top. Once he got there, he looked around at his surroundings. He could clearly see the lake and all 70-something jerks having fun. Let them, he didn't care. He would run away if he could and if he knew what to do afterwards... Well, that was just a daydream to keep him busy during his long hours of solitude.

About 20 minutes passed and he was getting rather restless in the tree. He decided it was time to get back down and see if the workers had brought any snacks. That's one of the very few things the orphanage could offer that he actually liked.

Once he got back to the lake shore, he noticed something odd. There was someone else there who wasn't getting in the water either. Someone he didn't recognize. The boy was wearing tattered brown corduroy pants and a red and white short sleeved shirt with a broken record design on the front. He had aviators covering up his eyes and his hair was a bright blonde and was combed to perfection. The mysterious boy looked over at him, nodded his head slightly, and started walking closer.

He fidgeted, not knowing what to do about the approaching boy. So he stared at his old converse and tried to keep his heartbeat at a minimum. Then a flat and monotone voice rang out amongst the shouting and splashing. "Hey, why aren't you out there having the 'time of your sad little life' too?"

"I could ask the same thing to you, dumbass."

"Now no need to get sassy, I was just asking." he said cooly, grinning a little bit. "Anyways, I plan on heading out here soon. No offense, but you look sad and alone, how about you join me?"

He looked up at the boy and stared at his reflection. "Do I even know you?"

"Oh, where are my nearly non-existent manners? Name's Turntech, or Turner if you don't plan on coming with me." Turntech held out his hand to him.

"What the fuck kind of name is Turntech?" he scoffed at the hand, which Turntech quickly lowered.

"One to keep people from knowing my real name. Speaking of names, what does yours happen to be?"

He hesitated to answer, but finally gave in. "Karkat. Karkat Vantas."

"If it makes you feel any better, I've heard weirder names."

Karkat glared at Turntech. "Are you fucking implying that my name is weird?"

"Cut me some slack. I go by Turntech, remember? Anyways, do you want to leave with me? I kinda got to get going. Jake can only be in charge for so long until he gives in to the little kids."

Karkat cocked an eyebrow at Turntech. Who are all these people? "Where would I be leaving to, exactly?"

Turntech smirked and chuckled a little. "You're an orphan, I'm an orphan. Jake and the little kids mentioned earlier are orphans. I want to take you to a place where the orphans who got double rejected go to live and learn and grow to be little badasses."

"What do you mean by 'double rejected?" Karkat stared at him bewilderedly.

Turntech stretched and started walking towards the forest, motioning for Karkat to follow. "Well, besides the kids who's parents died and had no family who could take them in, we were given away because of selfish reasons, right? I mean, say that my parents had me at 16 and couldn't afford to take care of a baby at that time. I bet you that they just couldn't accept the loss of their cell phone or their social life or some dumb shit like that. I think that our parents should have gone with the consequences of having a kid too young and just have given up their valuables, you get me?"

Karkat stared at him. "...Well, I understand.. But my parents didn't give me-"

"And when I mean double rejected, I'm talking about that a kid who gets bullied and teased and sometimes just flat-out ignored at the goddamn orphanage too. I mean, that's what happened to me and all the others at the tree home. I don't mean to be judgemental, but you get ignored and slash or bullied too, right?"

Karkat glared at the ground, and Turntech took that as a yes.

"Anyways enough of my many opinions on life and how sucky it is to be here. Are you coming or not?"

"I guess so, sure. What the fuck do I have to lose? If I get in trouble, by the orphanage, whoop-de-fucking-doo. At least they'd finally be noticing me."

Turntech grinned at Karkat. "That's the spirit. It's about a 5 mile hike back to the house, can you handle it?"

"Yea. Have you done this before or something?" he said as they hiked through the dense forest.

"Oh yea, bunches of times. There's a little over 50 orphans there, including myself."

"Well, here goes everything," and the two set out back to the home.

They arrived at around 1 the following morning, and Karkat and Turntech were completely exhausted. Jake and Jade had stayed up at the entrance to wait for Turntech to return. Once they saw the final newcomer, they smiled at him and offered him some leftover cake they had had for 11 year old twins Finn and Fiona that day.

"Come on, old boy! It comes straight from our lovely supplier, John Egbert! Even though I've never met the chap, I know for certain that he has a knack for baking delicious treats such as this!" Jake said in his happy as usual tone of voice.

"All you guys do here is eat cake and have parties? And where are all the goddamn people, Turntech? You'd said there were-"

"Well, they're all asleep! Shhh newcomer, I just got the babies to settle down for the night. They were too scared because they thought alligators would come from the river since Big Brother Turntech wasn't around to keep them safe!" Jade said, flashing a million dollar smile at Turntech, which was returned with a smirk and a shrug of the shoulders.

"Jadey-cakes, you know how it is.." Turntech said. "I think I'm gonna go hit the hay. Karkat, Jake will show you to your room, its number 6.9, Jake. Tomorrow I gotta go meet up with John and give him Finn and Fiona's thank you cards for giving them the cake. I might ask for more money too, depends on where his lovely big sis is."

"Sounds alright, Turntech. We got it from here." Jake smiled as he led Karkat around the circle and to the Boys' Loft.

Jade yawned and turned to look at Turntech. "So that was the almighty Turntech's final run?"

"Yea, The camp's full and we have enough orphans here to deal with. Who's next on the b-day list? I'll be sure to tell Johnny-boy tomorrow."

She racked her brain and finally said "I think it's Matthew, Turntech. And you know that he's the complete opposite of his brother and is going to want a nice and peaceful get-together."

"And Alfred isn't going to let that happen, has he ever let it before?"

"True! But we can still try at least, for his sake." Jade smiled.

"We'll see what we can do. But for right now I'm gonna go sleep, and that's something I suggest you do, too."

"Alrighty then, see you tomorrow at 9:30~!" she said.

They embraced before taking their different ways to their sleeping rooms. Jade slept near the Young Girls' Loft, she and Kanaya would take turns with shushing the young ones when they would have a nightmare, and they would also be in charge with waking everyone up, too.

Turntech slept in a room entirely to himself above the Boys' Loft. From his open wooden crawl space, he could overlook the entire tree home, and that view was priceless.

Tomorrow hs plans involved visiting John and helping the newcomer find a group of friends he would get along with the best, and he already had ideas of groups already. He grinned at the thought and undressed to his black and blue checkered boxers before sliding into his homemade mattress and drifting off into dreamland.

Meanwhile in room 6.9, Karkat was asking questions of every sort to the poor tired boy named Jake.

"How have you not been caught yet? Has anybody wanted to go home? How long did it take to make this place? Will you kick me out if I don't fit in? Who's the oldest here? Who's in charge? Are there more coming? Answer me, god dammit!"

Jake took a deep breath and spoke, "By pure luck, not that I know of, 3 years I believe, of course not don't be silly, Turntech, Turntech again, no you were the last one we are fresh out of rooms now."

Karkat took a second to connect the questions with the answers and sighed. He quietly mumbled to Jake. "Why me?"

Jake smiled at the boy. "That, is a question only Turntech himself could answer. But he believes that you will be able to fit in here."

"Do any...parents ever come here looking to adopt?"

"Oh no, never. We're all runaways, really."

Karkat nodded, looking rather relieved. Jake then stretched and yawned a bit. "I do believe it's time for a good night's rest. Breakfast is at 9:30. You can skip it if you want, but no eating until lunch which is at 1:45 that afternoon! And everyone must be up at 12:00, ok?"

"Yea, yea, yea," Karkat mumbled as he plopped himself on the mattress. "Jesus FUCK! Is there even anything stuffing this bed?!"

Jake laughed a little, "There might be some dead palmetto leaves between the wooden frame and sheet, but other than that, no I don't believe so! Tomorrow I'll have you go to the Maryam sisters to get you some proper cotton in between that. Porrim is in charge of inventory, I think.."

"Yea whatever. I'm gonna try and sleep if I can. They better stuff this goddamn bed tomorrow if you expect me to stay."

"Why would you even want to leave? I sure wouldn't want to, my orphanage was Hell for me and my sister. I'm glad I met Turntech to get us out of there. Goodnight Karkat, and welcome to our tree Home." Jake said with a smile before he disappeared out of the crawl space.

Karkat lay there for a while, thinking over the day. Was it worth it leaving like that? He had left what little belongings under his bed back at the orphanage, but he didn't really miss them. But what he missed even less was the others there. He had a reputation of having a short fuse, and boy did everyone want to test that out to make sure that was true. Karkat knew he had anger issues, but nobody wanted to help treat them. Maybe here it would be different...?

Well, no matter about it now. Tomorrow he was going to try and come out of his shell enough to make at least one acquaintance. One shouldn't be that hard in an orphanage full of people who came here for the same reasons he did.

Karkat rolled to his side and sleep slowly came to him, he slept a satisfying and dreamless night.


	3. Chapter 3

Turntech awoke to the sound of quiet knocking on the floor, a small head with auburn hair poking its way through the crawl space. Turntech smiled and sat up. "Nepeta? Is that you coming to wake me up?"

A tiny gasp could be heard before giggling. The extremely small child crawled her way into the room. She had an olive green dress on that went down to the middle of her shins. Her auburn hair stopped at around her shoulders and she never wore shoes, so her feet were bare and dirty from climbing and crawling about. She was around 3 years old and the happiest little girl Turntech had ever met.

She smiled and ran to Turntech's bed, jumping on it as he took her into his arms, hugging her tightly. "Tell me, darling. Why are you waking me up?"

Nepeta giggled her sugary sweet giggle. "You know why I'm here, Tuwntech! It's din-din time, of course!" she squealed.

Turntech smiled and set her on the floor. "Din-din time is at night, you silly! It's breakfast time! Now, turn around and let me get dressed, ok? No peeking!"

She giggled and put her small grimy hands over her bright emerald green eyes. Turntech quickly put on his tattered corduroy pants and red and white t shirt. Turntech shoved his feet into his shoes, grabbed his aviators, and put them on his face, covering his bright red eyes as they always did. "Alright, Nepster. Let's go get some breakfast, yea?"

"Yea, yea!" she said excitedly.

He picked her up and set her on his back so they could leave the room together and get to their destination. There was a large circle that was surrounded by the lofts and other rooms up in the trees. A large bonfire was in the center, sometimes the flames would leap up to 10 feet in the air, so all low-hanging branches were cleared from around the massive fire. All ladders, slanted walkways, and climbing nets led to this circle. All meals and events took place here. The hunting trails, pathway to the river, and the exit were all located here. A young, Puerto Rican girl that went by the name Aradia called the circle the 'Ghoul Hole'. No one really understood the name, but it stuck. Maybe because it rhymed? Who knows.

The Ghoul Hole was being scattered by children who were coming from their individual lofts and to the ground. Jade and Kanaya could be seen putting the final touches on the breakfast for everyone. Every breakfast was the same, wild berries and rabbit meat. No one ever complained, they were all happy to get a meal in the first place.

Turntech placed Nepeta down around the fire, around where the other children her age were. He then went to Jake, who was busying himself with cleaning his pistol he had found in Grandma Harley's home. Jake looked up at the albino and they grinned at each other. "Is he up yet, Jake?" Turntech asked.

"Newcomer? I don't think so. But he should get up early today, so we can introduce him to everyone."

"I'm pretty sure that his name is Karkat, and I'll go get him up." Turntech turned around and bumped into two boys chasing each other. "Marshall Lee! Finn! Stop fucking around the fire!"

The boy named Marshall stopped, looked at Turntech, and smirked at him. "Chill out, dude. Just trying to have fun here."

"You can have fun by learning how to swim or climbing a damn tree. Not chasing Rapunzel here around the fire. Here's a better idea, go wake up everyone. We have a newcomer here."

"Hey! I'm not-"

"Bitching! Is it a chick? A hot chick? With curves in ALL the right places?" Marshall wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Turntech, who snickered and pushed him in a friendly manner.

"If you find Latino boys to be hot chicks, yea sure. Now go do what I told you."

"Tch, boys are not in my wide field of interests." he said as he walked off with Finn tagging along behind him.

Turntech grinned and muttered under his breath. "Then your field of interests isn't wide enough.."

Turntech climbed up the #6 Boys' Loft ladder. There were 9 rooms in each loft, so each room was a point. 6.1, 6.2, and so on. There were more lofts for the boys than the girls, mainly because of where they had located the two lofts. The trees where the Girls' Lofts were just couldn't handle any more than 5 sets of rooms, while the Boys' Loft could go for 6 sets. No one really minded, everyone was fine with it and let it be.

Once Turntech got to Karkat's room, he crawled into the room. He saw Karkat asleep on the floor, and Turntech smiled slightly at the sight. He must've fallen out of it during the night. Well, the floor can be more comfortable when your mattress has no stuffing whatsoever. Turntech lifted a foot and stamped on the floor loudly. Karkat jumped and scrambled to a sitting position. When he recollected himself, he shot a deadly glare at Turntech. "The fuck was that for? I thought I was allowed to sleep for a few more fucking hours you shit!"

Turntech laughed. "Yea, you usually are. Just not today. I want to introduce you to everyone so you can start finding people to hang out with. I might send you to Kanaya and Porrim to stuff up that bed. Sound good?"

Karkat shrugged and stood up, grabbing his pants off of the floor and putting them on. "Will I get any other clothes besides these?"

Turntech looked at Karkat and nodded a little. "You look like you're the same size as John.. I'll ask him for some old shorts for you, maybe a shirt or too also."

"Thanks." Kakrat said as they climbed out of the room and down the net to the Ghoul Hole. "I left all my other belongings at my old place.. Not that I miss it or anything."

"Yea, I left my old pair of shades at my orphanage. I'm glad I did at the end of the day, good to get rid of memories of my shitty past."

By they time they were back, most of the orphans were there, save a few 3 or 4 girls who never woke up early. Many of them greeted, smiled, and waved at Turntech. Some of the 5 and unders came up and hugged his legs. He nodded at all of them and took his spot beside Jake, Jade, and Equius. Karkat trailed behind, acting very shy around all the new faces. "Hey," Turntech said to Equius, "Where's your bro?"

Equius was already glistening slightly in the early morning July heat. He dabbed at his forehead with an old towel and said to Turntech, "Horuss is out with Rufioh to go make sure the rabbits are breeding enough for us to kill a few more for meals to last the rest of the week."

"Oh good, I was gonna ask Rufioh to do that today. Glad he got onto it already. That was a pretty sweet idea of him to start up a bunny farm, wasn't it?"

Equius nodded as he looked at Kakrat. "Ah... Hello, Newcomer. Please take a seat anywhere you see an open spot."

Turntech spoke to Karkat. "Hey, you can sit by Jade if you want. I'm not gonna throw you out in that horde of trouble makers just yet."

Karkat nodded a little and trudged over to the empty spot between Jade and a boy who was wearing 3D glasses and mixmatch vans shoes. He plopped down and sat in a criss-cross position, staring at the ground the whole time. The 3D boy poked his shoulder. "Hey, you new here? I haven't gotten the 'pleasure' of meeting you yet."

Karkat glared at him. "Oh yea? well my name's Karkat. Not 'Newcomer'. I'm sick of people calling me that."

"Heh. Yea, I felt the thame when I came here with my couthin, Mituna. My name'th Thollukth, by the way. Anywayth, which hellhole did Turntech get you from?"

"Uh.. Carcino Genesist Orphanage."

"Shit. Ithn't that the plathe where orphanth who either have or have a really good chanthe of having canther go?"

"Yup. That's the place. How did you know?"

"There'th a few other kidth here who came from that lovely ray of sunshine. I thought they dethided to thtop going there though, I gueth not."

"Well, none of the people I was forced to be with had really bad cancer. Does anyone here seem like they're sick?"

"Hmm... The orphanth from there are Meenah, Feferi, Rufioh, and Cronuth... They're all pretty healthy. I would know." he smirked out.

Karkat stared at him with raised eyebrows. Sollux cracked his fingers as he spoke. "Let'th jutht they I've run the batheth with a thertain Feferi, if you know what I mean."

"Whatever, Sollux..." Karkat muttered as he looked at Turntech. He was standing up and putting his hands in his back pockets.

"Alright, settle down. I have a few announcements today before breakfast. Hey, Mordecai. Leave Ciel alone, we allll know how his butler can kill us with his silverware. And quite frankly that's not how I want to go out. Anyways- Nepeta. Dress down! Same goes for you too, Marceline. Heh, fuck you too. As I was saying, next up for birthday is a sweet little Canadian we all know and love-"

"AWWW YEA! IT'S GONNA BE MATTY'S BIRTHDAY!" screamed a bombastic voice from the circle of kids. His brother, which was 'Matty' was trying his best to keep his energetic brother calm.

"...So that'll be in a week or two if I'm right. So I'll be out today. Jake and Jade are in charge as usual. If Equius or Horuss report any of you being stupid, there will be trouble when I get back. And last announcement. Last night, I went on my last run to help someone who is like us come here." Turntech turned towards Karkat and nodded. "Stand up, Karkat. Introduce yourself to everyone."

Karkat sighed and stood up slowly, hands in his pockets and head down. The Ghoul Hole was silent, making Karkat flush with embarrassment. He slowly looked up, and saw everyone was smiling at him, then they all erupted in cheers. Karkat was taken aback from all the clapping and yells towards him. He quirked up a smile and took out one of his hands to give a slight wave. Nepeta was crawling towards him, eyes bright and smiling widely. She tugged on his pant leg and he looked down at her. Nepeta lifted her arms up, signaling that she wanted to be picked up, which he obliged. She nuzzled his neck and said. "Hi! My name is Nepeta! I'll be your friend."

"..H-hi, Nepeta..." He mumbled as he started to sit back down.

Sollux smirked at him. "She alwayth doeth thith when thomeone new ith here, don't thtart feeling thepcial!"

Karkat flipped him off and cradled Nepeta in his arms as everyone turned their attention from Karkat and back to Turntech. "Today's gonna be a pretty normal day. Open rooms today are the Sewing, Drawing, and Reading rooms. Hunting lessons for how to gut out animals is today and tomorrow. Jake, you have two deer that need cutting soon, right? Yea, I thought so. And swimming lessons are today, too. We need to start fishing again, Feferi? Jack? Are there many fish in there? Ok, good. Get the nets out then and fish out of the swimming zones. Alright losers, breakfast time!"

All the plates and bowls were laid in front of everyone at lightning speed by the cooks, Porrim, Jade, Bonnibel, Tavros, and Barney. Nepeta left Karkat and toddled to Equius, and sat on his lap. Equius smiled softly and listen to the chipper toddler go on about nothing in particular. Sollux started eating his berries. "Well thith ith our food, it'th not much, but it'th better than what I remember from the orphanage."

Karkat nodded in agreement. "At least we know that it's all natural, I guess..."

"Yea." They ate in silence and once they finished, Karkat looked around, slightly confused of where to put his plate.

"Jutht leave it," Sollux said, "they'll come around and pick them up once everyone'th done and left."

"Ok. So what do we do now?"

"Well, I'm gonna go hang out with FF, TZ, and GZ over by the river 'till lunch. You can join uth if ya want."

Karkat nodded, but before the two boys could get anywhere, Turntech grabbed Karkat's sleeve. "Dude, you have some other newcomer chores you gotta do before socializing yet. Sorry to break it to you."

Oh yea, Karkat thought. He had forgotten about that. Karkat shrugged and agreed with Sollux to meet up with him after going to the Maryam Sewing Boutique. He and Turntech then waved goodbye to Sollux and made their way to the southwest corner of the Tree Home Orphanage.

Once they got to their destination, they went through the beads dangling from the entrance. Two beautiful teenaged girls were inside. The older girl had platinum blonde hair reaching to her shoulder blades. The younger one, however, had the same intensity of blonde hair, but it was cut short and styled to perfection. They both turned to look at Turntech and Karkat. The younger one smiled. "Hello, Karkat. Ready to make your bed comfortable?"

After 10 minutes of greetings and introductions, Karkat had learned that their names were Porrim and Kanaya. They were 16 and 15, and they were extremely skilled in the art of sewing. Karkat, Porrim, Karkat, and Turntech were situated around a large handmade table, talking as Kanaya stuffed two bags full of cotton and other soft fillings for Karkat's bed. "...And then we were taken out of our house after my dad nearly killed my mother. Mother was never suited for children anyways, always said we were trouble and a curse from God. I personally feel the opposite about us. Anyways, we were sent to the orphanage my grandmother ran when I was 14 and she was 13. Kanaya and I thought it would be fun, seeing our ever loving grandmother every day. But I was wrong, we weren't allowed to see her, and I was teased for the piercings I had gotten on my lips, see them? Then our dreary lives were changed when Turntech came for us, and Kanaya and I are always grateful for him. We will do anything for him now." Porrim said, smiling at Turntech, who simply smirked and nodded.

"Yea, yea. I know." He turned at Karkat, who seemed to be comfortable around a group of strangers. "Hey, Vantas. What's your story?"

"W-well, we haven't heard YOURS yet!" he protested.

"Oh you might have not, but the rest of us have heard it at least 20 times over. Personally, I would love to hear yours. You seem like such a nice guy, I don't understand why anyone would give you up!" Kanaya said happilly.

Karkat hesitated, and sighed. "Fine, I guess I'll tell you.. I've, uh, never really told anyone before, though."

Turntech shrugged, "That's fine, we ain't gonna judge you on how poor your story telling is."

Karkat nodded and sucked in a deep breath before beginning. "Well, from what my memories tell me, my parents died in a fire. It was my dad's fault. Yea, dads seem like the problem here, huh? Well, he was smoking one afternoon and didn't put the cigarette out good enough before dropping it. Before you could say 'oh shit fire,' the house was up in flames. Good for me, I had been at one of my friend's house that day, but my mom was burned alive in the kitchen while my dad breathed in too much smoke and suffocated. I wassss about...8 at the time? And I was sent to the cancer orphanage after my medical docs said I had a high chance of getting cancer as a kid. Been there ever since..well, yesterday."

The three of them nodded, and Kanaya took his hand. "I understand your pain of losing your parents. After about a year of being at the orphanage, my father killed my mother and then killed himself."

"Sounds heavy, dude. I feel for you. If you ever need to vent or anything, be sure to come to either of these two ladies. They're like the orphanage's personal therapists. Real good at it, kay?" said Turntech.

Karkat swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded, shaking slightly. This was perfect. He absolutely loved it here. People were actually genuinely concerned about him, and wanted to see him grow up and BE something. That was way more than what the last place wanted, and now he knew he had no interest of going back there.

Kanaya smiled and him. "Do you have anyone to see after leaving here? I have some good friends that would enjoy meeting you..."

"W-well, my friend Sollux wanted to meet up with me at the river with some of his friends.." he stuttered out.

"Perfect! Those were actually the people I was going to introduce to you. He, Gamzee, Feferi, and Terezi, yes?"

"Yea..."

"Then let's get going right away! Turntech, you have to go, don't you?"

"I do, make sure Karkat takes the stuffing to his room. Don't need him leaving that around, you know someone'll snatch it up whenever they get the chance to." Turntech instructed Porrim and Kanaya as he stood up and made his way towards the exit.

"Rest assured that I will, Turntech darling." Said Porrim, "besides, Kanny should be coming soon for his daily conversation with me. And you know he would never put up with someone stealing from anywhere in the Homes."

"Oh God, if he's planned for coming here, then let me leave while I can. See you Kanaya, Porrim, Karkat." Turntech flashed a small smirk at Karkat before leaving.

Karkat felt a rush of warmth pool in his cheeks. He tried to hide it before anyone could see his flustered state, and followed after Kanaya to the river in the south part of the Tree Home.


End file.
